Wasseem Skef
Gastroenterology · Houston, TXNPI 1558625699
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
The money is spread across several categories — consulting fees (59.4%), food and beverage and travel and lodging — rather than concentrated in one kind of arrangement. 21 manufacturers reported payments, led by Merit Medical Systems Inc at 59.7% of the total. 2025 is the largest year on record at $7,533, 8.0 times the $939 reported in 2019.
Across 86 payments — averaging $131.55 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Merit Medical Systems Inc$7K
- Olympus Corporation Of The Americas$939
- Boston Scientific$918
- Apollo Endosurgery US Inc$913
- Conmed Corporation$351
- AbbVie$280
- plus $1K from 15 others
What the payments were for
- Consulting fees$6,72059%
- Travel & lodging$1,59814%
- Food & beverage$2,98126%
- Education$140%
General payments by program year
Who reported the general payments
Companies are grouped under their corporate parent — a single manufacturer often files under several CMS reporting entities. Research and ownership payments are counted separately and are not in this table.
| Company | Payments | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Merit Medical Systems Inc | 3 | $6,755 |
| Olympus Corporation Of The Americas | 7 | $939 |
| Boston Scientific | 23 | $918 |
| Apollo Endosurgery US Inc | 12 | $913 |
| Conmed Corporation | 10 | $351 |
| AbbVie | 5 | $280 |
| Creo Medical Inc. | 1 | $258 |
| Madrigal Pharmaceuticals | 1 | $147 |
| Cook Medical LLC | 1 | $127 |
| Endogastric Solutions, Inc | 5 | $115 |
| E.r. Squibb & Sons, L.L.C. | 1 | $115 |
| Medtronic | 4 | $85 |
| Salix Pharmaceuticals, A Division Of Bausch Health US, LLC | 4 | $75 |
| 3-d Matrix, Inc. | 1 | $73 |
| Sanofi | 2 | $53 |
| Ambu Inc. | 1 | $27 |
| Merck | 1 | $23 |
| Pfizer | 1 | $15 |
| Laborie Medical Technologies Corp. | 1 | $15 |
| QOL Medical, LLC | 1 | $15 |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. | 1 | $14 |
What the payments were tied to
Products named in the reported payments. Only payments of $100 or more are attributed here — the typical reported payment nationally is a meal worth about $16, and listing those product-by-product would be noise.
How this compares
$11,313 in reported general payments places this provider in the 80th percentile of 1,350 gastroenterology providers in Texas.
Other gastroenterology in Houston
- Bincy AbrahamHouston$1.6M
- Mazen NoureddinHouston$1.5M
- Stephen PappasHouston$1.4M
- Brooks CashHouston$867K
- Mohamed OthmanHouston$777K
- Isaac RaijmanHouston$565K
- Kalpesh PatelHouston$382K
- Victor Ankoma-SeyHouston$340K
- John VierlingHouston$270K
- George TriadafilopoulosHouston$192K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.